Any Civil / Geotechnical Engineers?

[wullie_t25]

Looking for input from any Civil / Geotechnical Engineers that are currently working down under.

What is the current state of the construction / mining industry down there?

The girlfriend and I are currently looking at our options for our future and we are both open to moving abroad. We are both 27, she has an Msc and is working as geotechnical consultant with 3 yrs experience, I have a Beng in Civils and have been working as a Geotechnical Engineer for 2 Site Investigation contractors and currently for a ground stabilisation contractor as a site agent. All in I have about 3 yrs experience too. Does this sound like we could get work down there or do we need more experience?

Finally, what could we expect to earn down there? From a quick online search it seems:-

Graduate / Junior Engineers - $40-60k

3-5 yr experience - $50-80k

5yr + - $80-120k

Senior / Chartered - $150k+

Does this sound correct? could this be earned working for a consultancy in the city or is this more inline with the mining industry?

Thanks for any input.

[Colonial]

Those wages are about right as an average. Possibly towards the low scale. Would be more of a city wage. It is far to low for mining work especially if you are in a remote area.

[ezakimak]

Colonial said:

Those wages are about right as an average. Possibly towards the low scale. Would be more of a city wage. It is far to low for mining work especially if you are in a remote area.

I’m in Melbourne working for one of the big consultancies and it’s probably not too far off.
Just checked the internal job boards, looks like there is a few jobs in WA and also some in NZ and the UK ?

[PomBstard]

Yep - your guess of salaries is about right'ish. I also work for one of the big consultancies, in Sydney, and whilst we're busy, we've already got a shedload of Poms trying to get in. In fact, out office is probably about 25% Pom.

Competition is stong for jobs, regardless of what you might hear about working for the mining industry. Remember, working on a mine in WA or QLD is not like being on a quarry in the Dales - its not uncommon to be an hour or more flight from civilisation.

If you can do it, best thing to do is get some contacts to send your CV to, get a Working Holiday visa and get over here and present yourself to a variety of companies as ready to work. Just to put in perspective, across our Sydney office last year we received applications from about 2000 grads, of which we interviewed 160, and offered jobs to 40. With 3 or so years' experience, you're a step up, but you've got competition and you'll need sponsorship.

Hope that helps.

[wullie_t25]

Thanks for the input guys.

I know its not going to be an easy ride, I either want to go abroad or get into the oil and gas industry. So neither option is going to be easy.